Setting new goals for yourself sounds great until you actually have to make an effort to achieve them. 😅
And some of these can be vague, over-the-top life goals that we think are attainable.
But they only make us feel disappointed when we can’t hit them.
If you’re struggling when it comes to goal setting, no, you’re not a failure.
You just need to set weekly goals first.
In this article, we’ll tell you why and how you should set weekly goals. We’ll also list down the action steps to achieve them consistently.
Bonus: We’ll also give you a list of 30 weekly goal ideas for some inspiration.
Let’s go. 🚀
What Are Weekly Goals?
Weekly goals break down a larger goal into smaller tasks that you want to achieve within a week.
If you’re new to goal setting, it’s a good place to start.
For example, let’s say you want a big house, drive a swanky BMW, or make a six-figure salary.
These are great ideas for a long term goal. But you can’t really attain them in a week.
Instead, goals with a weekly focus can be more casual and less stressful, making it much easier to achieve them.
Why Set a Weekly Goal?
Weekly goals help us wake up from this sleep and take measurable steps to achieve our life goals over a defined period.
A week is long enough to carry out several tasks and make significant progress towards your bigger goal.
Yet, it’s short enough to tweak your actions if you go slightly off track.
However, most of us give little thought to these small steps and aim for the bigger goal without any roadmap. But if you break them down, your ultimate goal becomes more manageable and achievable.
Another great thing about setting week goals is that they’re flexible. 🤸♂️
You can adjust and align them to take care of activities or bad work habits that may prevent you from achieving your personal goals.
For example, setting weekly goals can be useful if you’re a procrastinator. You can assign a short term goal for each day and do things daily rather than rush towards the end of the week.
Moreover, achieving weekly goals sets the momentum for progress and motivates you to stick to your plan.
If you’re all game and want to try this fantastic weekly goal setting method, here are some weekly goal ideas to get you started.
30 Weekly Goals Examples
From career goals to focusing on self-care, you can set weekly goals for all walks of life.
If you’re yet to decide on which area to focus on, here are some weekly goals ideas to help you out:
Career goals
Want to grow at work and get ahead of others? 🌱
Try out these career goal ideas:
- Learn the Pomodoro method of time management
- Attend a networking event to build new connections
- Declutter your work inbox
- Join a training course to upskill yourself
- Meet your deadlines on time
Financial goals
Saving money is on everyone’s wishlist. 🧞♂️
Here’s how you can do it with weekly goals:
- Open an investment account
- Avoid online shopping for a week
- No eating out for a week
- Negotiate the price of your next buy
- Save money emergency fund
Health and fitness goals
Don’t envy that fit coworker or friend. Instead, get going with these fitness goal ideas:
- Get eight hours of sleep every day
- Drink water instead of carbonated drinks
- Go to the gym three times this week
- Home-cook all your meals this week
- Do yoga three times this week
- Take a walk after lunch or dinner
Self-care and mental health goals
Here’s how you can take care of yourself with weekly goals amidst a hectic work life:
- Take a break from social media
- Meditate for ten minutes every day
- Watch an episode of FRIENDS 😉
- Organize your room
- Read a chapter in a book
- Maintain a gratitude journal
Relationship goals
Nurture your relations with these good weekly goal ideas:
- Catch up with an old friend
- Call your parents
- Host a movie night with family
- Video call a close friend
- Create a routine of “We time” with your partner
Fun goals
Want to try something new?
Try out one of these fun examples of weekly goals:
- Send an unexpected gift to a friend or colleague
- Join a dance class or learn baking
- Volunteer at an NGO (Non-Governmental Organization)
- Create a new playlist for the gym
- Find seven things in your closet to donate
Bonus: SMART goals for Students
How Achieve Your Weekly Goals
Have a weekly focus
Before you start working on a weekly idea, decide on a weekly focus.
Your weekly focus could be anything, a phrase, a quote, or a poem. Something that inspires and gives you the motivation to set a better goal.
Dedicate a specific time every week to decide your weekly focus. Ideally, it should be before the week starts, probably a Sunday afternoon or evening.
Use this time to spotlight yourself and think about what you want to achieve in the upcoming week.
It could be personal project management or a professional goal. Additionally, review your goal weekly with regard to your monthly goals or a quarterly goal.
Mark this time on your calendar and try to stick to this weekly regimen. The idea here’s to turn setting weekly goal ideas into a habit.
Use the SMART goals framework
To achieve your goals, you need to have a SMART objective.
The SMART goal framework stands for:
- Specific: your weekly goal must be clear and not vague
- Measurable: your weekly goals should give you tangible results
- Attainable: a week’s short term goal should be realistic and achievable. You don’t want to set far-reaching personal or career goals and feel like an underachiever
- Relevant: your goal should be in line with your weekly focus. Set a short term goal that brings you one step closer to your aspiration
- Time-Bound: you must have a timeframe to achieve your weekly goals. When you set a deadline, it helps you become more proactive and work harder towards your personal goals
For example, instead of saying, “I’ll increase my sales this week,” you could say, “I’ll arrange ten product demos this week.” 🙌
That’ll give you a specific, measurable, and attainable goal. It’s relevant to your company’s objective of increasing monthly sales. And you’ve made this goal time-bound by giving yourself a week.
Wondering how goals are different from objectives?
Check out our detailed goals vs. objectives guide.
Write down your goals
Once you have a good weekly plan using the SMART goals framework, you must write it down.
Why?
It’s got to do with your brain’s science.
When you think about your weekly goals, you usually use the right side of your brain associated with imagination and creativity. Basically, you just imagine stuff.
But when you write it down, you tell your left brain (the logical side) that you want to do something about it. This knock-knocks your subconscious, which helps you create an actionable plan.
Writing goals also gives you the satisfaction to tick off those tiny boxes on your checklist. ✅
To write different goals, you can get yourself a fancy weekly planner or organizer. You can also find a printable planner template online. Even better, you can use an online goal tracking tool.
Just ensure you have access to this weekly planner or tool throughout the week.
Bonus: Schedule Templates
Break down a bigger goal
To achieve your bigger goal, you must break it down into smaller, manageable goals. This makes it easier to achieve.
For example, you could start with a quarterly goal and set milestones for each month.
Then, have weekly goals to inch towards each milestone. You can even break them down further into daily goals.
But when you break down goals, ensure that each mini goal (whether it’s a weekly or daily goal) ties back to a bigger goal. This will help you think of the bigger picture and get the motivation to achieve your goals.
Stay accountable with goal setting
If you struggle to stay on track, you could rope in an accountability partner. It can be your team lead, manager, or even a friend. 👯♀️
For those going solo, you can set accountability statements that remind you of the present and upcoming week goals. These are action items or milestones you commit to and complete within a given time frame.
Make sure they’re specific and measurable so that you know when you’ve achieved their purpose.
Another way to stay accountable is to use a goal tracking app.
Use a goal tracking tool
A goal tracking tool like ClickUp can help you stick through and crush your goals week by week.
ClickUp is one of the highest-rated project management software used by teams and individuals to manage their personal goals or professional weekly goals.
It offers several goal tracking features that let you set measurable targets, track your progress, and conduct a weekly review.
In fact, at ClickUp we set weekly goals to break down our business goals into smaller achievable tasks.
How do we do it?
By setting up weekly scorecards using Goals in ClickUp.
Viewing weekly scorecards and progress percentages in ClickUp’s Goal folder
These scorecards help our teams break down their work into smaller action steps and give them a sense of purpose every day. Each team member sets four to five Targets to know what they need to accomplish on that day.
Weekly scorecards also let our project managers know what each member is working on and if their efforts culminate into our bigger business goals.
Here are some of the goal tracking features in ClickUp that you can also use to reach your weekly goals:
- Goals: set Goals with clear deadlines and measurable Targets. You can name each Goal section, write a description, and set start dates and due dates
- Targets: track your weekly goals by setting tangible objectives. Opt for different targets like currency, true or false, numerical, and task targets
- Goal Folders: group weekly goals, monthly goals, OKRs, or KPIs and control who can access them
- Weekly scorecards: decide top initiatives for the upcoming week. Share weekly scorecards with your team to tell them what different goals you’ll be working on
- Dashboards: view and share your Goals on a Dashboard to quickly refer to weekly or monthly goals. You can easily gain insights into your SMART Goal in one place
- Epics: break down bigger business goals into smaller tasks. Create Targets under each Epic and link lists and tasks to these Targets
- Checklists: create a to-do list with Subtasks to define your daily goal. You can also use Recurring Checklists for common tasks that you need to do every week
- Templates: create and save Templates for common weekly goals and share them across teams. From daily task to Checklist Templates, there’s a wide variety to help you save time and manage weekly goals better
Start Tracking Your Weekly Goals With ClickUp
Remember, your weekly goal doesn’t need to be perfect. It should just be smart enough to help you make a little goal progress every day.
A smart goal tracking tool like ClickUp can be of great help here.
From setting all sorts of Goals with weekly scorecards to keeping a tab of your tasks with Reminders, ClickUp is that friend who will help you every step of the way.
But the best part is most of these features are available for free!
Why wait then?
Use ClickUp for free to organize your weekly goals, and we bet no one can stop you from doing your victory dance. 🕺
Questions? Comments? Visit our Help Center for support.